The Cinema of Terry Gilliam: It's a Mad World

Jeff Birkenstein, Anna Froula, and Karen Randell

Abstract

Terry Gilliam has been making movies for more than forty years, and this book analyzes a selection of his thrilling directorial work, from his early films with Monty Python to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnussus (2009). The frenetic genius, auteur, and social critic continues to create indelible images on screen—if, that is, he can get funding for his next project. Featuring eleven chapterse written by an international group of scholars, this collection argues that when Gilliam makes a movie, he goes to war: against Hollywood caution and convention, against American hyper-consumerism and imper ... More

Terry Gilliam has been making movies for more than forty years, and this book analyzes a selection of his thrilling directorial work, from his early films with Monty Python to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnussus (2009). The frenetic genius, auteur, and social critic continues to create indelible images on screen—if, that is, he can get funding for his next project. Featuring eleven chapterse written by an international group of scholars, this collection argues that when Gilliam makes a movie, he goes to war: against Hollywood caution and convention, against American hyper-consumerism and imperial militarism, against narrative vapidity and spoon-fed mediocrity, and against the brutalizing notion and cruel vision of the “American Dream”.